OTB Notebook

OTB Notebook is an organisational app that can be used to capture content throughout your educational studies. The notebook is suitable for students who take notes in class on a regular basis. The application features simplified note-taking, class schedule, rich media attachments, teacher contact and icloud back up integration.

Teacher Review

Upon opening the app the user is shown a simplified home screen in a two sectioned format. It would have been nice to have seen an app introduction splash screen here to welcome you to the app.

On the left the user can add classes by pressing the ‘+’ button. Here the class can be given a name and a teacher can be created or chosen if added previously. The class can be edited by assigning a room number and schedule throughout the week. Although multiple schedules can be added here we found this quite time consuming and a little cumbersome at times. The developers should consider being able to set the start time of the lesson and choose the duration rather than a stop time. It would also be nice for the lesson created to be saved in a format where it can be chosen again from a list rather like the teachers option. Once the lessons and teachers have been created the lessons can then be edited by pressing the ‘i’ icon. Lessons created can be seen in the schedule timetable with the top right icon. It would be beneficial for the user to be able to allocate a colour scheme to the different lessons here rather than those that are pre-set. For use in the UK the developers may consider giving the option of a two week timetable as this is used in most schools.

On the right hand side the user has the option to add notes from the lessons, this can be achieved by clicking the’+’ new note icon. This creates a notes page that can be typed into. The developers should consider the ability for the user to use a stylus pen here to create hand written notes as well as typed. Notable features that we really liked here are the features to the left; Add photo, Add webclip. This enables the user to add a website clipping which is shown in a restricted browser and the ability to add photos from the camera reel or a real time photo. Although this section looks very basic the features here have great potential. Three other icons appear in the top right hand side for this section. One icon will split the notes into two columns; however, once spit we couldn’t get it to revert back. The other icon enables the user to email the teacher within the app about your subject notes – we liked this feature, however, the window was quite restricted and cut off some of the graphics. There is also another ‘+’ icon to add more notes if needed. You can return to the home screen using the back arrow button. It is a shame that there is no option to share these notes over other platforms such as Dropbox or a feature for print sharing. A scan option with the camera may also be a useful feature here.

Pressing the files option in the top left will enable the user to see the semesters saved. You can add, delete and edit these semesters. This section still has minor bugs and would benefit again from different colour schemes. For use in the UK the developers may want to consider changing the word ‘semester’ to ‘terms’ or to enable the user to edit this. A back button would also be useful here rather than a random ‘?’ icon which takes us to the developers website.

Overall this is a good app and we can certainly see the benefits and potential of using this application. We liked the simplicity of the app however it does lack a professional feel at times. With a few minor tweaks and some more user options this could be an excellent app.

Screenshots

From the Developer

Imagine a notebook that captured all of your content throughout your educational career. OTB Notebook is that notebook.